Dodik: ERS to offer electricity at long-term fixed price to investors in Republic of Srpska

Serb leader in Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik expects to attract investments in manufacturing facilities by offering five-year power purchase contracts at EUR 80 per MWh.

The Republic of Srpska and its government-controlled coal and electricity producer Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske (ERS) have very competitive power prices, given the extreme energy inflation in the European Union, Milorad Dodik said on Happy TV in neighboring Serbia. The Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina said it is a motive for foreign investors to move production there.

Moreover, the idea is for ERS to offer five-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) at EUR 80 per MWh to any company that hires more than one hundred people, he stressed and claimed an Italian investor is already interested in such a deal. The Republic of Srpska generates 35% more electricity than it consumes, Dodik said.

Election promises

Dodik’s SNSD is the ruling party in the Republic of Srpska, which is one of the two entities that make up BiH. The other one is called the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is running for president of Srpska again at next month’s election, after holding the office from 2010 to 2018.

Dodik earlier said the price of electricity for investors in five-year agreements would be EUR 80 per MWh to EUR 100 per MWh. In his words, the sum would depend on the number of employees.

Russian backing

Also last week, Dodik separately stated that the Republic of Srpska would buy coal power plant project Ugljevik 3 and hydropower project Mrsovo from Russian investor Comsar. In remarks after returning from Moscow, where he met with President Vladimir Putin, he said the Kremlin and Gazprom support plans for a gas pipeline from Serbia and the construction of several gas power plants in the Republic of Srpska.

It includes a 100 MW project in the oil refinery in Brod, owned by Zarubezhneft, the Serb leader pointed out.